The fact that Volkswagen has sold close to 7.5 million units of the Volkswagen Tiguan in just 2 generations since 2007 is testament to its utility and Wolfsburg will be hoping to sell just as many with the new 2024 Volkswagen Tiguan that’s just dropped in.

Volkswagen says it “is currently the most successful VW model worldwide.” Who are we to argue?

To be fair, the current Tiguan was starting to look a little long in the tooth. This new one has been redesigned and looks very modernised. Up front, the headlights are sleeker and flow into a black trim panel across the bonnet and in keeping with current Volkswagen design lingo, incorporate a full width light bar between them. The headlights themselves are also LED as standard.

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The R-Line variants will get a more imposing front bumper with an aggressively shaped black grille.

While the current Tiguan has a boxier side profile, Volkswagen has taken the angle grinder to the side profile of this new one and rounded it up a little.

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Wheels start at a modest 17-inch units but can grow all the way up to optional 20-inch rollers for the flagship variants and the coveted R-Line.

Changes at the utility end of the Tiguan are more pronounced. There’s a large spoiler as standard as well as a full-width light bar stretching across the rear hatch. The R-Line variant will get a more aggressive rear bumper at the back.

The Tiguan itself now rides on the MQB Evo platform that Wolfsburg claims makes it better in every sense. To be fair, that’s kind of expected with any new vehicle. Nobody thinks a new car will be worse than its predecessor though exceptions have been made.

If you thought the exterior was where all the work went into, you’ve got to take a look at the interior. The dash now wraps around the cabin and is driver centric.

You’ll get a huge 12.9-inch touchscreen as the infotainment hub though an optional 15.0-inch screen is available as well. For comparisons sake, the current Tiguan’s largest screen is only a 9.0-inch unit.

Volkswagen has received a lot off flak recently for its infotainment interface and our experience with it in the Volkswagen Golf Mk8 cemented that. Now, they claim that the interface has been revamped for easier operation but nonetheless, the climate control is still only operable via the touchscreen though the menu for it is permanently at the bottom instead of having to access it.

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Keeping to their promise, Volkswagen has also ditched the annoying touch-sensitive steering wheel controls, instead reverting to tried-and-trusted physical buttons.

New to the cabin is a smart dial that governs multiple functions including the volume, driving modes and ambient lighting. We’re hoping it’s easy to use because nobody wants to go into Sport mode when all they wanted was to crank up Taylor Swift on the radio.

Speaking of the ambient lighting, the passenger’s side of the dash gets a funky pattern that syncs with the colour of the lights.

More importantly, we’ll now get to the powertrain options. Of course there are multiple engines available that include a choice of mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid, petrol and diesel mills. There’s no pure electric Tiguan though, Volkswagen wants you to get the ID4 if that tickles your fancy.

The entry-level engine is a 1.5-litre mild-hybrid petrol with either 130 PS or 150 PS. A larger 2.0-litre turbo engine brings 204 PS or 265 PS to the table. All-wheel drive is available.

While it won’t make it here, the diesels comprise a 2.0-litre unit with either 150 PS and front wheel drive or 193 PS and all-wheel-drive.

As for the plug-in hybrid variants, they again comprise a 1.5-litre petrol mill paired with an electric motor and dual outputs of 204 PS or 272 PS. The pure electric range is an impressive 100 km.

Expect the new Tiguan to go on sale in its native Germany sometime around February 2024, so Malaysia might get it around the middle of the year. Interestingly, the new Tiguan’s price is almost identical to the current one in Germany, so here’s hoping it doesn’t go up by much once it hits our shores because it’s a fantastic SUV.